Every year the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) holds its Annual Meeting to discuss and support progress on some of the most important societal priorities and challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean. This year, the meeting is taking place in Panama City - bringing together key stakeholders...

The New Era of Digital Learning was fully on display in London early this week, when educators became developers for 24 hours in the first-ever Windows 8 App-a-thon at the British Education Technology & Training (BETT) Show. On Monday, January 28th and Tuesday, January 29th, 21 Partners in Learning...

In the lovely setting of the Prague Castle, five teachers from Florida, Michigan and Washington state were among 21 awarded global recognition for their innovative work in the classroom. These educators, part of Team USA mentioned here last week, took home prizes in the categories: cutting edge use of...

Here are some images from the past few days from the Microsoft Partners in Learning 2012 Global Forum in Prague. It has been an inspiring 3+ days. My post earlier this week shared a little about “Team USA” and the projects they brought to this global event. These photos will give you a sense for what...

Congratulations to our hardware partner, HP, who was just announced by the State of Idaho as its mobile computing devices contractor to supply HP Probook Notebooks to all K-12 teachers and high school students in the state! Microsoft is proud to partner with HP to bring universal access to digital learning...

Last night at the Gala Awards celebration we announced 16 educators from California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, and Washington states that were the finalists from this fantastic celebration of teaching. 100 educators from 25 states participated in the Forum in Seattle suffering through...

This is one of the occasional guest posts that happen here at @TeachTec. Today it’s my pleasure to feature educator Kim Sivick ( @ksivick ), a technology coordinator at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, PA. Consider the title of this post: “Don’t be afraid to be awesome today.” Give yourself...

Next week is the CSTA Computer Science & Information Technology Conference in Irvine CA. I’m taking part in a session on July 10th covering phone app development. I’m a little nervous about it. Partly that is because I am one of three people presenting different development environments for different...

Have you signed up for the best value in computer science education professional development? In today's economy, finding value for your professional development dollar is key. Not many international conferences can make the claim that they offer this but the Computer Science & Information Technology...

Lee Kolbert wrote a blog post ( Dear Will Richardson ) that I see as a real call to action for those of us who promote ourselves as experts working to help teachers do their jobs better. The basic suggestion is that those of us who have been out of the classroom for 5 to 10 years should take a year or...

Being somewhat opinionated about the subject (who am I kidding – most subjects) and at the same time being more or less incapable of keeping my opinions to myself I have written here about what makes a good teacher a number of times. I’ve talked about subject matter expertise and passion for the subject...

The information – communications – technology (ICT) career field is a fast-changing one. Are your skills up-to-date in this new market economy? Welcome to the Microsoft Virtual Academy for IT Professionals. The MVA provides multiple tracks of learning from deploying Windows 7 desktop to build...

CSTA's Annual CS&IT Conference This is the big and best professional development event of the year for middle and high school computer science educators. The program of session and workshops gets better every year and this year looks to be no exception. (I may be biased as I am on the program committee...

Starting today I am hosting a bi-weekly guest post series from Microsoft Partners in Learning US Forum alumni. The intent is to hear from educators who have experienced this unique professional learning forum and to share their experiences, reflections and practical tips for others who are considering...

Or perhaps how young should you try? And to top if off, why do you want to start them so young in the first place? I received the following from a teacher friend of mine the other day and it has had me thinking ever since. Can you please tell me why anyone thinks it is a good idea for 6th grades...

The other day Chris Bowen (that’s Chris working with students below) and I gave a Kodu workshop for a group of students and teachers in Vermont. This was a train the trainer sort of work shop and the students will be acting as peer tutors as part of after school programs in their local schools. Some...

Back in the end of November I posted the call for proposals for the 12th Annual Computer Science & Information Technology Conference. Did you see it? Have you been thinking about a proposal? have you submitted a proposal yet? The deadline is rapidly approaching (January 31st 2012 is the deadline...

This is one of several recent “CSTA Blasts” that I am posting on my blog. If you are a member of the Computer Science Teachers Association you will have seen this and I apologize for the duplication. If you are a computer science educator, especially in K12, you should be a member. The annual CSTA CS...

The Computer Science Teachers Association runs what I consider the single best and most important professional development events of the year for computer science educators - the Annual Computer Science & Information Technology Conference . I’m honored and excited  to be on the program committee...

Partners in Learning program is a flagship program for Microsoft's work in education, and one of the things that I'm most proud of as a Microsoft employee. It started eight years ago and is the company’s 10-year $500 million commitment to invest, support and celebrate the work of teachers around...

The Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) program provides trainers the opportunity to deepen and expand their skills on integrating technology in their teacher training to positively impact teaching and learning. MIE participants will leave the two-day event with tools and training materials that support...

As our culture continues to be dominated by technological innovation in our everyday lives and kids expect to learn in a digital way, its important educators feel comfortable and confident using technology in the classroom to help their students stay engaged in learning and reach their full potential...

How excited am I about the Partners in Learning Global Forum ? I’m seriously thinking of taking vacation days and paying my own way to Washington DC to see if I can “crash” it. I had a great time and learned a lot judging the US event ( Innovative Education Forum–Judging Day ) this summer. I met some...

Microsoft is offering a number of FREE Phone Camps around the US. These are fun and interesting workshops – hands on – to help people learn about developing Windows Phone applications. If you are an instructor who wants to add mobile development into your courses, a student who wants to create apps and...

IF you missed it live (like I did) you can now view the recording of the Windows Phone Mango Jump Start training on Channel 9. I borrowed these direct links from the official announcement . Microsoft MVPs Rob Miles and Andy Wigley are back! The "Building Applications for Windows Phone "Mango"...